There is a certain amount of confidence on hand when it comes to the Lakers and their latest effort at rebuilding, confidence that is, no doubt, rooted in history.

That’s because, seemingly at every key moment, whenever the Lakers have come unmoored, they’ve managed to come up with just the right transaction to get the ship ruddered again—Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Pau Gasol. With a deft combination of skill and luck, the Lakers have always gotten their man.

Kobe Bryant (AP Photo)

But now? Well, things are different now. As the Lakers bumble their way through their worst season since they left Minneapolis, a quick turnaround looks less and less probable. And with Bryant signed on for two more years and likely to retire thereafter, it is fair to wonder whether his brilliant career will mark the end of decades of Laker dominance.

Speaking at the All-Star game last week, Bryant sounded confident that the brain trust of general manager Mitch Kupchak and head honcho Jim Buss—armed with ample cap space this summer and one of the draft’s top picks—would be able to return the Lakers to their former glory.

“What we have coming up this offseason with the cap space and what we have ahead of ourselves seems to be right in the Lakers wheelhouse in terms of turning things around pretty quickly,” Bryant said. “We have had summers like this, they have never really faltered, they have normally made really sound and excellent decisions that put us right back in contention. So I think this offseason is right in their wheelhouse.”

Perhaps. But past Lakers front offices did not have to cope with a tight salary cap and a very punitive luxury tax—the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement make it much more difficult for the Lakers to find a top star simply because they are the Lakers. It does not help that the franchise has lost the Midas touch of Jim Buss’ father, Dr. Jerry Buss, who died last year.

There is also a player problem. The free-agent class of 2014, at one point, looked like it would be stocked with stars. But it is likely that LeBron James stays put in Miami, while veteran staples like Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki will surely stay with their current teams and overpaid players with opt-out clauses (Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph) might not opt out at all.

The Lakers will be in play for the top free agents, including some combination of Carmelo Anthony, Luol Deng and, depending on his situation in Miami, Chris Bosh. But is there a combination there that adds up to a championship contender, even if Bryant is healthy? It’s a longshot.

That’s why Kupchak is a lot more subdued in his outlook—Bryant might be expecting a quick turnaround, but, acknowledging the vagaries of the new CBA, Kupchak sounds prepared for a slog.

“We’re looking to bring something to Los Angeles, it may take more than one year to build, I don’t know,” Kupchak said. “Because we have a lot of money this summer doesn’t mean we will spend it all. We will spend it wisely.

"And if we can’t, then we will do the best we can this summer and we will look maybe to the next summer. We don’t know how that is going to play out right now, we don’t know who’s going to be free, we don’t know who is going to opt in and who is going to opt out. So there is a lot of unknown. All you can do is be in position, and we feel we are positioned well for opportunity.”

The Lakers are, indeed, well positioned for opportunity. But so are a lot of teams heading into this summer and beyond. There is a history of things just working out for the purple-and-gold, and working out quickly, but history may not be on their side this time.